Richard Stallman's personal site.

Planned, Coordinated Assault on the Protestors - Eddie Yuen

The school assault was an attempt to critically injure and perhaps even kill
a group of dedicated activists who have been relentlessly scapegoated as
"violent anarchists". There is no other way to explain the viciousness of
the assault. Police were allowed an entire hour to beat people while the
media and rescue workers were kept outside. Without repeating the
information from the other reports I have sent I will mention just a few
things which may not have been in the media. As of this morning 30 people
are still in intensive care, at least 3 of whom are in serious and one in
critical condition. Some activists insist that one of the 2 body bags
brought out for psychological warfare (as described in the article) actually
had a body in it, but this is unconfirmed. It is very possible that the
police were seeking out certain people identified by the intelligence forces
of various countries (some German undercover officers were recognized by
German activists) who were then singled out for crippling injuries. 42 of
the 92 arrested were German, with the others from Spain, France, and other
countries (3 from the US). The alleged "leader" of the British black block
is surrounded by 4 police officers around his hospital bed and three others
outside the room. Those seriously injured are being given tranquilizers
against their will under a law dating back from the draconian Emergency
anti-terrorist laws of the 70s. Police tried to wash the blood off the
walls, floors and radiators but couldn't get all of it, and this has made
for bad PR with the media here. Everyone hospitalized (throughout the city)
is also under arrest and those in the school are being charged with
resisting arrest and belonging to an illegal organization (another 70s law -
I'm not sure the wording). According to the London Times, 5 of the 7 British
arrested are facing 5 year prison sentences, so this should give some idea
of the legal nightmare to come. While most of the Carabinieri (police) are
very young and inexperienced (a point which has been used to criticize the
"unprofessionalism" of the handling of the demonstrations) the police sent
to the school were veteran national police. The report I sent earlier said
that some of them were undercovers from the "fake black bloc" (more later)
and that these were the most brutal. The entire operation was conducted with
military precision, from the staged provocation to the ubiquitous
helicopters over the school and police checkpoints to round up the escapees.
Simultaneous raids took place at most of the other sites associated with the
Movement, with the result that thousands of people (myself included) spent a
night of terror roaming the streets after having had all of our possessions
destroyed at the "safe" spaces.